Blog (Wo)Man On Campus: Ivy League Chic
In the latest installment of Blog Man on Campus, our woman in cyberspace watches her moral universe disintegrate.
Ivy League Chic wears its erudition and penetrating insight like most people wear tight leather Gucci pants and D&G stilettos: not at all, not ever. Authored by a Cornell senior, Ivy League Chic is the perfect destination for those who tire of, you know, ideas.
First, let’s get this out of the way: it’s a fashion blog. So keep in mind that any criticism herein might actually register as high praise. For instance, “Blonde Belle,” the writer and self-described “debutant” [sic], provides helpful tips on how to bring couture into the classroom. Couture, I’ve learned via Wikipedia, is that complicated handmade designer stuff that can be yours for the price of a small Carribbean island — but luckily Belle has distilled some more affordable ideas out of the Chanel show. Like this $498 black dress. Here you will also find enlightening regular criticism of Britney Spears, complete with pictures, plus well-intentioned tutting at the former’s association with Paris Hilton. She’s only got your reputation in mind, Brit.
The blog actually does fill a gap in the cyber-Ivy community, which is stuffed with earnest young scholars pontificating through the lens of what they learned in Cultural Relativism 101 that morning. Belle is earnest but no scholar — she uses a Capitol Hill invite-only reception to muse about the drab grays and browns the Senators wear. She also devotes a post to things that are like, so totally way more interesting than the State of the Union address, like the twist-off bottlecap. (Actually she’s onto something there; there is never a bottle opener around when you need one … particulary during the SOTU.) Her zeal can be cute, like her delight with an online quiz’s findings that the celebrity she dresses most like is the adorable Reese Whitherspoon. (Belle threatened to kill herself if she was found stylistically similar to Tara Reid.)
But Belle can also be cruel. Witness her paparazzi’ing of an unsuspecting Cornellian, whom she photographed from behind for the purpose of generalizing about the too-goddamn-cold-to-look-nice population of college girls. The young lady’s offense? Uggs, leggings, and a down jacket. Belle bravely discloses that she knows whereof she criticizes: She herself once wore a T-shirt and jeans to exams. It made her feel “icky.”
Insecure but smart ladies who slogged frumpily through high school, dreaming of one day living somewhere where they would be judged not by the color of their eye makeup but by the content of their character, will be disheartened by this blog. You did not leave the mean girls behind in high school. They are following you. And taking pictures.
